Privacy Act of 1974; U.S. Customs and Border Protection--011 TECS System of Records Notice

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and as part of the Department of Homeland Security's ongoing effort to review and update legacy system of record notices, the Department of Homeland Security is publishing a revised system of records notice for the system formerly known as the Treasury/CS.244, Treasury Enforcement Communication System, October 18, 2001, as a Department of Homeland Security system of records notice titled, DHS/CBP-011 TECS. Additionally, the Department is giving notice that it plans to consolidate into this newly revised system of records the following legacy system of records: Treasury/CS.272 Currency Declaration File, October 18, 2001; Treasury/CS.224 Suspect Persons Index, October 18, 2001; Justice/INS-032 National Automated Immigration Lookout System (NAILS), October 17, 2002; and Treasury/CS.262 Warnings to Importers in Lieu of Penalty, October 18, 2001. Categories of individuals, categories of records, and the routine uses of this legacy system of records notice have been reviewed and updated to better reflect the Department of Homeland Security DHS/CBP-011 TECS, which is no longer an acronym.

TECS is an updated and modified version of the former Treasury Enforcement Communications System, which is principally owned and managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is its principal law enforcement and anti-terrorism data base system. TECS is established as an overarching law enforcement information collection, analysis, and sharing environment that securely links telecommunications devices and personal computers to a central system and database. This environment is comprised of several modules designed to collect, maintain, and screen data as well as conduct analysis, screening, and information sharing. TECS databases contain temporary and permanent enforcement, inspection and intelligence records relevant to the anti-terrorism and law enforcement mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and numerous other federal agencies that it supports. TECS also maintains limited information on those individuals who have been granted access to the system. Access is granted to those agencies which share a common need for data maintained in the system. TECS also allows direct access to other major law enforcement systems, including the Department of Justice's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications Systems (NLETS), and the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).

In an effort to provide even more detailed information and transparency to the public, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has separately published System of Records Notices for the applicable subsets of data connected to TECS, including the DHS/CBP-006 Automated Targeting System (ATS) August 6, 2007, DHS/CBP-007 Border Crossing Information (BCI) July 25, 2008, DHS/CBP-005 Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) last published November 18, 2008 and DHS/CBP-009 Non-Immigrant Information System (NIIS) being published concurrently with this SORN elsewhere in the Federal Register today.

Additionally, the Department is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concurrent with this SORN elsewhere in the Federal Register . The exemptions for the legacy system of records notices will continue to be applicable until the final rule for this SORN has been issued.

This system will be included in the Department of Homeland Security's inventory of record systems.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before January 20, 2009.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number DHS-2008-0191 by one of the following methods:

* Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Pursuant to the savings clause in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law, Section 1512, 116 Stat. 2310 (November 25, 2002), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have relied on preexisting Privacy Act system of records notices for the collection and maintenance of records that concern the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS).

As part of its efforts to streamline and consolidate its record systems, DHS is updating and reissuing a DHS/CBP system of records under the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) that deals with CBP's priority mission of preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the country while facilitating legitimate travel and trade.

On March 1, 2003, the United States Customs Service (owner of the Treasury Enforcement Communications System) was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the newly created Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") and renamed "Bureau of Customs and Border Protection." Subsequently, on April 23, 2007, a Notice was published in the Federal Register (72 FR 20131) to inform the public that the name of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection had been changed by the Department of Homeland Security to "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)". Accordingly, inasmuch as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System is principally owned and managed by CBP and CBP is no longer part of the Department of the Treasury, the system formerly known as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System will now be known as DHS/CBP-011 TECS (no longer an acronym).

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and as part of the Department of Homeland Security's ongoing effort to review and update legacy system of record notices, the Department of Homeland Security is publishing a revised system of records notice for the system formerly known as the Treasury/CS.244, Treasury Enforcement Communication System, (66 FR 52984 October 18, 2001), as a Department of Homeland Security system of records notice titled, DHS/CBP-011 TECS. Additionally, the Department is giving notice that it is retiring Treasury/CS.272 Currency Declaration File, (October 18, 2001 66 FR 52984) Treasury/CS.224 Suspect Persons Index (66 FR 52984 October 18, 2001) Justice/INS-032 National Automated Immigration Lookout System (NAILS) (67 FR 64136 October 17, 2002) and Treasury/CS.262 Warnings to Importers in lieu of Penalty (66 FR 52984 October 18, 2001), as they have been into this consolidated SORN. Categories of individuals, categories of records, and the routine uses of this legacy system of records notice have been reviewed and updated to better reflect the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and TECS.

DHS/CBP-011 TECS is an updated and modified version of the former Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), which is principally owned and managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is its principal law enforcement and anti-terrorism data base system. TECS is established as an overarching law enforcement information collection, analysis, and sharing environment that links telecommunications devices and personal computers securely to a central system and database. This environment is comprised of several modules designed to collect, maintain and screen data as well as conduct analysis, screening, and information sharing. TECS databases contain temporary and permanent enforcement, inspection, and intelligence records relevant to the anti-terrorism and law enforcement mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and numerous other federal agencies that it supports. TECS also maintains limited information on those individuals who have been granted access to the system. Access is granted to those agencies which share a common need for data maintained in the system. TECS also allows direct access to other major law enforcement systems, including the Department of Justice's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications Systems (NLETS) and the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).

In an effort to provide even more detailed information and transparency to the public U.S. Customs and Border Protection has separately published System of Records Notices for the applicable subsets of data connected to TECS, including the DHS/CBP-006 Automated Targeting System (ATS) (August 6, 2007, 72 FR 43650), DHS/CBP-007 Border Crossing Information System (BCIS) (July 25, 2008, 73 FR 43457), DHS/CBP-005 Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) (November 18, 2008, 73 FR 68435), and DHS/CBP-009 Non-Immigrant Information System (NIIS), which is being published concurrently with this SORN elsewhere in the Federal Register today.

Additionally, the Department is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concurrent with this SORN elsewhere in the Federal Register . The exemptions for the legacy system of records notices will continue to be applicable until the final rule for this SORN has been published.

This system will be included in the Department of Homeland Security's inventory of record systems.
II. Privacy Act
The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory framework governing the means by which the United States Government collects, maintains, uses and disseminates personally identifiable information in individuals' records. The Privacy Act applies to information that is maintained in a "system of records." A "system of records" is a group of any records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual. In the Privacy Act, an individual is defined to encompass United States citizens and lawful permanent residents. As a matter of policy, DHS extends administrative Privacy Act protections to all individuals where systems of records maintain information on U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and visitors. Individuals may request access to their own records that are maintained in a system of records in the possession or under the control of DHS by complying with DHS Privacy Act regulations, 6 CFR part 5.

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